


Mothers' Love

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Canon, Episode Related, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-14
Updated: 2004-10-14
Packaged: 2018-12-27 09:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12078705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Missing scene from 410. After the scene in Brian's office, Joan Kinney gets a surprise visit from two unexpected people.





	Mothers' Love

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

When Joan Kinney opened her door and looked a tad woozily through it the very last person she expected to see was Debbie Novotny bundled up in her winter coat and scarf and glaring at her over the tip of her very red nose. In fact she was so surprised to see the woman that she actually glanced suspiciously at the martini she was clutching in her hand and wondered if the alcohol had worked it’s magic a little earlier than usual tonight. Sweet Lord, if she was imagining Debbie Novotny then there was every chance that Jack might show up at some point and after the day she’d had she wasn’t sure if she could cope with him tonight.

“Joan.” Debbie shoved her hands in her pockets and stared with thinly veiled disgust at the obviously drunken woman. “Are you going to invite us in?”

Joan blinked. “Us?” Her nervousness increased dramatically and she looked worriedly around. “He’s not here, is he?”

Debbie looked startled and then huffed impatiently and gestured to her companion half hidden behind her bulky figure. “This is Jennifer Taylor, we’d like to talk with you for a moment.”

Joan swayed slightly forwards and peered at the calm faced blonde that moved helpfully into the light. “Do I know you?”

Jennifer looked the gray haired woman up and down and then at the martini – obviously the latest in a long line that night – in her hand. “No, but I believe you know my son.” Her lips curved in what a charitable person might call a smile. “May we come in?”

Joan nodded and automatically stepped back to allow them to pass. “Certainly.” She kept the door open for a little longer than strictly necessary as the women walked stiffly past her and then shuddered slightly as the cold night air registered and she realized she was letting all the heat out. “It’s very kind of you to call on me and make sure I’m alright, Debbie.” She staggered slightly as she followed the two women into her immaculate living room and gestured to her couch. “Please, have a seat.”

Debbie snorted and planted her feet firmly as she prepared for battle. “Why the fuck would I care about you, Joan?” She unwrapped her scarf from around her neck and stood clutching the ends of it like a lifeline as she stared at Brian’s mother. “I’m here for Brian.”

Joan’s eyes flicked nervously around again. “Why, he’s not here as well, is he?”

Jennifer peeled off her tasteful leather gloves and took her place at Debbie’s side. “Certainly not.” Disgust rolled off her in waves as she eyed the older woman. “And he never will be again if we have our way.”

Joan’s face flickered with confusion at the two women’s animosity. “I don’t understand.” She looked at Debbie in bafflement. “I did as you suggested and I went to see him. I wanted to help him.” Her face crumpled in self-pity. You don’t know the disgusting, vile things he said to me. The way he spoke and the hate that he…”

Debbie stuck out her chin. “Yeah, we do.” She rolled her shoulders in her heavy coat and tried to remind herself that throttling the drunken old bitch wouldn’t solve anything. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the woman she had spent a great deal of her adult life alternately hating and pitying. “When you left and Brian shut himself away in his office his assistant called me to tell what happened.”

“Oh.” Joan was once more lost in a sea of confusion. “Why would she do that?”

This time Debbie’s chin didn’t go up in challenge but in pride. “Because she thought his mother needed to know what had happened.” She thumped herself on the chest in emphasis. “Me.”

Joan moved backwards and fell less than gracefully into her easy chair. “I don’t understand.”

Jennifer smiled coldly and tipped her head. “It’s quite simple Joan – may I call you Joan? – Brian’s assistant called Debbie because she felt that Brian’s mother needed to know her son was understandably distressed after a difficult visit from the woman that birthed him.” Smooth fingers petted the leather in her hands as she kept her eyes on the haggard figure in the chair. “Debbie – obviously concerned at the news – called me and once we’d had a chance to discuss the situation calmly we decided a little chat with you was in order.” She smiled tightly once more and laid a restraining hand on Debbie’s arm as she felt her swell with rage beside her. “Now, this is how it’s going to be. You will not contact Brian again – for any reason – and if we *ever* hear of you approaching him again then our next visit won’t be nearly so civilized, do we understand each other? From now on Brian is to be left to the care of his family and that most definitely does not include you.”

Joan felt her jaw drop. “You have no right to say that. Who are you to my son?”

Jennifer’s smile turned positively gleeful. “I’m so glad you asked that question.” She slipped her hand into her purse and pulled out an envelope. “I said that you knew my son?” She waited for Joan’s nod and then pulled out a picture from the envelope and stepped lightly across the room to drop it into Joan’s lap. “His name is Justin. He’s been Brian’s lover for some years now.”

Joan made no move to take the picture and instead just stared with empty eyes at the snapshot of a brunette man with his arms wrapped around a much smaller blond man and smiling into the camera. It took her a moment to recognize Brian as the happy laughing man, she could only ever remember seeing him as resentful or sullen. “The young boy.” She glanced up at Jennifer and her lip curled in revulsion. “I went to Brian’s loft once and there was a little boy there…”

Jennifer’s mouth tightened for a moment before she nodded. “Justin. As I said, he’s been Brian’s lover for some years now.”

“And you allowed my son to touch that innocent young boy? Corrupt him and bring him from the path of the Lord?” Joan hit out at the picture on her lap and sent it fluttering to the floor. “Do you realize that you’ve condemned your son to an eternity of hell to atone for his earthly sins?”

“You fucking sanctimonious old bitch!” Debbie forgot all about her earlier resolution not to strangle Joan and moved in for the kill. “After everything you’ve done…”

“Debbie!” Jennifer pulled her friend back and looked her firmly in the eye. “I would appreciate it if you would allow me to deal with this in my own way.” She waited for Debbie to stop huffing and puffing and for the reluctant nod of agreement before turning back to Joan and saying calmly, “There is a great deal about Brian I don’t like – that I will *never* like or understand – and a great deal I will never be able to forgive him for but loving my son isn’t one of them. Every time I look at Justin’s face when I see him with Brian I can see the love between them and when I pray to *my* God I thank him for sending your son into our lives.” 

She bent to retrieve the picture and placed it on a small occasional table at the side of Joan’s chair and then gently ran a fingertip over the two faces smiling up at her. “He took my son from me and turned him into someone that I couldn’t recognize for the longest time and then he gave him back and instead of my little boy I had a man. A fine, upstanding man with strong convictions and morals that may lose his way from time to time but always – always – has made me proud of him and I have Brian to thank for that.” She straightened and left the picture lying on the table as she slowly drew on her gloves. “Brian has made Justin’s life wonderful despite all his own emotional short comings and insecurities and he’s also – however unwittingly – enriched the lives of all the people that genuinely care for him.” Jennifer finished adjusting her gloves and looked down her nose at the speechless woman in the chair. “Debbie has shared with me some of what she knows of Brian’s childhood and the difficulties he’s faced in his life and if I were you Joan I’d be looking to save myself from the burning eternal fires before I started worrying about Brian because I dare say when you do finally manage to drink yourself into your grave you’re not going to be seeing the pearly gates any time soon.”

“Jesus.” The soft hiss from Debbie had Jennifer glancing back over her shoulder at the older woman’s shocked face. “You don’t pull any fucking punches, do you?”

“Not when it comes to a member of my family, no.” Jennifer’s crisp voice had Debbie raising her eyebrows in silent admiration before she looked down on Joan Kinney for the last time. “Mark my words, Joan; if I see you near Brian again or if you try to hurt him in any way you will answer to me.” She flicked her fingers at the picture still lying on the table. “I’ll leave you this, I think it only fair that you have something to remember him by.”

“He’s my son.” Joan swayed in her chair as she looked up at the two very different woman daring to judge her. “You have no right.”

Jennifer moved unhurriedly towards the door and didn’t bother looking back. “We have every right, Mrs Kinney, we care very much about Brian and that gives us all the rights we need. Debbie, we really should be going.”

Debbie – still slightly stunned that the screaming and literal bitchslapping fest she had anticipated wasn’t going to happen – shook herself and walked hurriedly after Jennifer and allowed herself to slam the door behind her as hard as she could before following the younger woman to her car. “Is that it?” She looked back at the house and saw Joan leaning up against the window staring woozily after them. “That’s all we’re going to fucking do to her?”

Jennifer refused to look back at the house and instead tipped her head back to look at the stars as she breathed in the cold night air. “What else is there to do? As much as I would like to slap the woman silly – or watch you kick her around her home – it wouldn’t do either of us or Brian any good.” She transferred her gaze to Debbie and smiled wryly. “God knows the last thing either of us need is Brian finding out about this little visit because we’ve beaten the hell out of the bitch that whelped him and he needs to bail us out of jail.”

Debbie smirked at the blonde. “You just don’t want him knowing that you care.”

Jennifer quirked an eyebrow. “And you do?” She glanced back at the house and shivered for a moment before moving to unlock her car and get in out of the biting cold. “What I said still holds true; there’s a lot I don’t like about Brian and I never will, but the thought of someone who has done so much for Justin being treated like that by his own mother when he’s down and in need of some sympathy and understanding turns my stomach.” She waited until they were both settled in the car and she turned the key to start the engine before looking at Deborah again. “Is that what he grew up with? There was no one around for him?”

Debbie nodded. “Yeah, that was it. Joan Kinney, lush of the year, and his father who beat the hell out of him every other day and twice on a Sunday.” She stared blindly out of the windshield. “I did what I could but it just wasn’t fucking enough. Every time I cleaned the blood off his face I could see him dying a little more inside but there was nothing I could do to stop it. No one wanted to listen to the fag hag single mom over the good catholic parents that abused the fucking hell out of that boy.”

Jennifer looked up at Brian’s old house briefly and shuddered to herself and then looked back at Debbie with a small, understanding smile as she reached to squeeze the older woman’s hand tightly. “Well, someone’s listening now.” She squeezed tighter for a moment and then placed her hand back on the steering wheel and put the car into gear. “It’s not just you anymore, Debbie. I think its only fair that if we share my son then we get to share yours too.” She glanced in the rearview mirror and pulled sedately out onto the street with a little smirk. “Now, I think we deserve a drink. Woody’s?”

Debbie laughed uproariously. “The boys will all be there, you know. Fuck knows what they’ll be doing, the horny little shits.”

Jennifer sniffed delicately and swung her car decorously in the direction of Liberty Avenue and her family. “Well whatever it is, they can stop for a few minutes and buy their mothers’ a drink.” She put her foot down as they left Joan Kinney far behind them and smiled softly as Debbie hooted with laughter again. “It certainly won’t kill them to have a civilized conversation for once instead of just screwing each other’s brains out.” In a flash of evil inspiration she concluded, “And maybe we could go with them to Babylon, I understand that there’s some kind of theme night tonight, cowboys and Indians, isn’t it?”

Helpless with laughter, Debbie sank back into her seat and happily pictured her boys’ faces when they not only had their evening at Woody’s interrupted by their mothers, but also had the much anticipated ‘Ride ‘em, Cowboy!” slaps and chaps night at Babylon crashed as well. She wiped her eyes – smearing cheap mascara over her flushed cheeks – and beamed delightedly at the cool, classy woman sitting next to her. “Yee-haw, partner, yee-haw!”


End file.
